CREEPING DEATH

This Foley scandal, and the cover-up by Republican leaders, is only going to grow. Already there are calls for Hastert to resign, and there are indications that other improprieties by OTHER congressman are likely to be revealed.

It was very amusing, then, to see HofbrauTheGreat traipse into the room with the latest Republican spin from the spurious pen of Matt Drudge.

Ever since 9/11, Republicans have had enormous electoral success by exploiting the fear generated by the attacks, and by stoking the native hatred of their base on God, Guns, and Gays. It has seemed that, no matter what the issue, Republicans met with victory by aggressively spinning issues, and misdirecting attention from any failures or malfeasence they engaged in.

So, what can you do against a foe who is blocking every attack? Well, in this case, history has a lesson.

First and foremost, this is an entirely Republican scandal. The sexual predator was a Republican, the men who covered it up were Republcans. Democrats neither created nor fueled this scandal. But, in the past, military tacticians have recognized the effectiveness of biological warfare to decimate an unknowing enemy.

Many ancient generals, such as Hannibal for example, have harnessed virulent toxins and used them against their foes. Ordinary arrows that can be deflected by armor or shields will sicken soldiers who touch them. Soldiers who eagerly break open abandoned caches of weapons and supplies will soon fall prey to hidden disease.

What does this have to do with Hof and the Foley scandal? According to Hof, who gets his information from the dubious Drudge Report, the IMs that ABC News reported on may have come from an 18 year old, rather than a minor. Now, at this point, the scandal has moved far beyond those initial reports. Foley has resigned, more pages have come forward to report his predations, and now it has been reported that Foley may well have come to the page residence while intoxicated, perhaps hoping to rendezvous with a minor.

The average American voter is going to be sickened and horrified by these revelations, and even more horrified by the GOP leaderships' craven attempts to cover-up and especially their failure to act in the best interests of those pages for possibly as far back as 11 years. Republicans have been very successful in spinning bad news, but this newest scandal is very much like a poisoned volley that has been fired at them. In their eagerness to advance aggressively and spin this, they have tried to deflect by pointing plaintively at other sexual scandals, or have tried to undermine a small point, as Hof did, without addressing the larger scandal.

Any reasonable person is likely to look at people like Vic Ferrari, Brutelogic, and Hof as apologists for a sexual predator and his enablers. This is one time when the Republican instinct to dissemble will backfire badly. And as Hof cries in full throat for everyone to look somewhere, anywhere but at the crimes of his party, his skin is paling from white to a putrescent green, and he wonders why he can't stop coughing...

JC